Satirist Jules Feiffer strips away the illusions and delusions of his characters as he examines the human condition in his screenplays, cartoons, plays, and novels. The seeming simplicity of his work often disguises profound meanings, and though his work deals primarily with contemporary concerns, the issues he addresses are of lasting artistic value.

Jules Ralph Feiffer was born in the Bronx, New York. His father, David Feiffer, held a variety of jobs from dental technician to salesman, and his mother, Rhoda Davis Feiffer, was a fashion designer. Feiffer attended James Monroe High School and then the Arts Students League in 1946 and Pratt Institute in Brooklyn from 1947 to 1951. On 17 September 1961 he married Judith Sheftel, a production executive with Warner Bros.; they have a daughter, Kate. They separated in 1971.

As a child Feiffer drew his own comics, modeled on those of his favorite comic book artists, and peddled them to...